Journey with Vikas Khanna's Flavors First

by Esther Sung

on 08/15/11 at 09:00 AM

Like so many cookbooks before it, Vikas Khanna's Flavors First: An Indian Chef's Culinary Journey (Lake Isle Press) presents a delicious collection of recipes for the home cook. What makes this one stand out are the quiet, personal stories that Khanna shares. As Executive Chef at Junoon, Khanna enthralls diners with his sumptuous Indian fare but what lies at the heart of Khanna's mission, as embodied by this book as well as by his philanthropic work and by Holy Kitchens, is the universality and humanity of food. Khanna spoke with Epicurious about what it means to cook and explains how four recipes represent modern-day India, in time for the country's Independence Day.

Epicurious:What were you trying to convey with your cookbook?

Vikas Khanna: The whole concept behind the book was to share the recipes and to share part of the journey I've taken. Every person you meets is actually writing your destiny, not you. That is, everyone has contributed to the way I cook, the way I think, who I am. But it's also interesting to put a book out like this. But I think I share something that's very personal.

Hiroko Kiiffner, my publisher, is the one who said that the message is so clear. It's about love. It's not just about cooking for people. Ultimately, it's the way you cook, the way you think about food, how you make people feel--those are the most important parts about cooking. You also make people feel good about family, which strengthens you, bonds you, supports you.

(Read more of the interview and get recipes after the jump.)

Epi: Your book includes both recipes you grew up eating as well as recipes like the Blueberry Chutney, Spinach & Walnut Salad with Curry Dressing, and Masala-Honey Cornish Hen that are your take on non-traditional foods. How you cook--traditional or non--when you're not at the restaurant?

Khanna: I have to use my techniques, my ideas, how I blend things. I'm not saying it's total fusion or that I'm creating a new cuisine. It could surprise people who are seeing this book in India. A new chef sees these things and says these combinations are possible and there are infinite levels of possibilities.

In general, I still have a lot of experimentation. There's the promise of freedom when you come to America. It's the idea that's more liberal than the cooking itself. I can work these things out as long as I don't lose integrity of the dish and as long as I make people see that it's trying to express something deeper about the journey. I also love food that is pure, and that can resonate a lot with people because it has history, traditions, culture.

Epi: You grew up in Amritsar, India near the border with Pakistan. Would you say the recipes in your book are reflective of that region or do they cover a lot of India?

Khanna: This book does cover lots of parts of India. My training was throughout the country. I never had tasted coconut until I was 17. We grew up in a Google-free world. You did not know what the other states ate but you knew they were extremely diversified. And then I started experiencing all the different parts as I trained, and that was thanks to my brother. He knew I was born for this long before I did. He said, "You don't want to be stuck in Armistar."

There are already lots of books on the regional cooking of India. We wanted to write about real cooking and Hiroko wanted a very personal take, so there are recipes from all over the country.

Epi: You write so lovingly about your grandmother. Can you tell me about what you miss most about her cooking?

Khanna: It's not the food I miss the most, it's the rituals of the food. It's when she rolled the bread on the marble, and I miss that so much. Every time she'd be making something, she'd be saying something, almost chanting. I miss that. I miss that coordination of man to god. Everything on the planet seemed to be right as you would see her cooking in this peace.

Epi: Indian Independence Day is on the 15th. Can you speak about the recipes we've chosen?

Khanna: Carom seeds poori. When you travel in India, this is something which you'll have to eat again and again and again. It's so appropriate because it's a poor man's food. Fried dough, it's heavy. So appropriate.

Khanna: The rassam is from south India.

Epi: Is this appropriate for the celebration?

Khanna: I'm trying to look at the celebration as if no one's being left out in the journey to freedom. In south India, when anyone comes to your house, it's served to you as an appetizer. A little spicy, a little pungent, a little sour--it works up the appetite.

Khanna: The Bengali fish, you're going to Calcutta.

Epi:I was intrigued by the candied rose petal chocolate cookies. They're not traditional.

Khanna: They're untraditional. But you know, the candied rose petals are used in making meetha paan. It's betel leaves, and sometimes they're stuffed with candied rose petals. I wanted to give it a different shape. When we think of India today, we see it as a modern country, with the coexistence of past and present. And these cookies do the same.